Maybe At Last
by Willow21
Summary: They're no longer colleagues, no longer opponents, so maybe at last there's hope for a certain couple.


**Maybe At Last**

**Summary:** They're no longer colleagues, no longer opponents, so maybe at last there's hope for a certain couple.  
**Spoilers/Episode:** Anything up to the end of season 6.  
**Characters:** Josh and Donna  
**Rating:** G

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Donna stood on the stoop of the old brownstone and looked at the crack of light coming through the blinds of the first floor apartment. Josh was in town for a few days and she'd been toying with the idea of coming to see him, to explain why she'd turned down his job offer. They'd spoken a few times since she'd returned to Washington without him, and he'd almost convinced her that he understood she felt loyal to Will. Charlie had told her that Josh was rejoining the campaign tomorrow, so this was her last chance to talk him. Charlie had told her that as well.

Josh answered his intercom and buzzed her into the building. Donna took a deep breath, opened the outer door and walked along the short corridor.

Josh opened his apartment door to Donna and smiled, she always did have the ability to make him smile. "Don't you still have a key?" he asked.

"I do, but I didn't know whether you'd want me to still use it."

"You can use my apartment anytime you please," Josh smiled as he followed her into the living room.

"I might hold you to that. Do you have a few minutes to talk? I want to explain why I didn't take the job," Donna began.

"There's no need."

"Yes there is. There's so much... there's things I need to say, to get out in the open, but I need you to listen."

"I always listen to you, Donnatella," Josh replied with a slightly amused sparkle in his eyes.

"No you don't, so sit down and shut up."

"Okay."

Donna sat next to him and wondered where to begin. Where all thishad begunwas a good question. Germany? The Russell campaign? The convention? Manchester eight years ago? She wasn't really sure that she knew.

"Donna?" Josh prompted.

"I didn't take the job because I don't think we should work together..."

"We haven't..."

"Be quiet."

"Sorry."

"I can't work for you or with you anymore." Donna saw the hurt and confusion that quickly flashed across Josh's face. "No, don't take this the wrong way, let me finish."

"Go on."

"When I was in the hospital, you were the one person I wanted to see and the one person I knew shouldn't be there. And then there you were and it seemed natural that you'd be with me. But when I went back to work I realised than everyone else thought it was natural as well, and that was when I knew we couldn't work together any longer. When Will asked me to go work for him, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. But the next thing I knew you were running Santos's campaign and that was the one thing worse than us working together, we were opponents. I was so angry with you for that."

"Why? You can't possibly think Russell would have made a good president?"

"No. God, Josh! For once in your life can you try and realise that not everything is about politics. God!" Donna sighed angrily.

Slowly what Donna was trying to say was beginning to dawn on Josh, at least he thought it was. He didn't say anything though, because if he was wrong he had no idea what he would do. Living with the vague hope that one day him and Donna could be more than just friends was better than knowing for sure that they couldn't.

"So why were you angry?" Josh asked.

"Because," Donna hesitated as her nerve began to fail her. "Because..." 'Oh for God's sake,' she told herself, 'just say it.' "I thought if we weren't working together then maybe we could be together."

"Be together?" Josh asked nervously. "As in, together, me and you?"

"Yeah," Donna tried desperately to read his tone, to see whether she'd made an enormous mistake. "While we were in the White House, we couldn't."

"And then suddenly I was the enemy," Josh continued, "and there was no way we could."

"Yeah," Donna repeated.

"And you wanted us to?" Josh asked. When Donna nodded, Josh smiled nervously. "So now I'm working on Santos's campaign and you're working for Will in the OEOB, so really there's no reason why I couldn't maybe do this?" He leant over and gently kissed Donna's lips. When they separated he looked at her questioningly.

"No reason whatsoever," Donna agreed.

"Interesting," Josh smiled.

"It is. So what do you think?"

"I think that I don't have to leave here for another eight hours and so we should definitely do that some more."

"Eight hours eh? I think I can come up with some other ideas of what we can do to fill that time."

"Way ahead of you," Josh smiled as he pulled Donna to her feet and led her into the bedroom.

END

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Yeah, yeah, I know predictable but it's over a month 'til the new series and I needed a Josh fix, what can I say! 


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